Inspiring

On this weekend’s Kickstarter episode, Derek talks with Barron Bell and Koi Turnbull about their campaign The North Star: The Emancipation of Frederick Douglass. It’s a graphic adaptation of the memoir, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, and it’s the first of three planned volumes on Douglass’s life.

The North Star is a dramatic retelling of three pivotal moments in Frederick Douglass’s story, bringing to life the legendary figure’s efforts as an abolitionist, a businessman, a politician, and a man of faith. There are a variety of reward levels, some of which underscore this project’s goal as an educational tool.

Pasteboard Masks

This month on the Euro Comics series, Edward and Derek discuss two black-and-white narratives, one an adaptation of a classic text and another an offbeat tale of aliens and relationships. They begin with Christophe Chabouté’s rendering of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (note the lack of hyphen in the title), released earlier this year from Dark Horse Books. After mentioning many of the earlier comics adaptations of the great American novel — and there are a lot — they plunge into Chabouté’s handling, highlighting some of the differences from the earlier versions. Both cohosts come from two very different perspectives in their analyses, since Derek is very familiar with the original novel and Edward has not yet read it. As such, their approaches are varied and multifaceted.

Next, they turn to the latest translation of Manuele Fior, The Interview(Fantagraphics). This is a markedly different kind of story from 5,000 km Per Second, a book that Gwen and Derek reviewed last year. As Edward points out, the draw of The Interview isn’t so much the story, but its tone or the affect generated by the text. This is a tale about relationships, and Fior’s art deftly expresses the subtitles and complications that underlie all of our interactions. You may come away from this book with a feeling of uncertainly and irresolution, but that seems to be a part of Fior’s project.

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Intricacies

This month on the webcomics series, Sean and Derek delve into three tonally different titles. They begin with Sam Logan’s long-running Sam and Fuzzy. This is a series that has been around since 2001, starting off as a gag strip in Logan’s college’s student newspaper and then becoming a webcomic in 2002. The creator diligently keeps his Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule of publication, and with almost fifteen years behind it, that’s a substantive webcomic. In fact, the Two Guys discuss the intricacies of its storylines, the expansion of its cast, and the evolution of Logan’s art. One would be hard pressed to find a webcomic with a more dynamic history, and the guys try their best to cover as many points as possible.

Next, Derek and Sean’s discussion takes a decidedly literary turn with Ulysses Seen, a webcomic adaptation of James Joyce’s masterpiece. Illustrated and adapted by Robert Berry, this is a project that attempts to capture the novel it the fullest sense. This is no mere graphic Cliff Notes version of Ulysses, but one that tries to represent Joyce’s voice and style. Accompanying the webcomic proper are analytical blog postings by Mike Barsanti, contextualizing the story and explicating its many facets. This is certainly an ambitious endeavor — it even has its own app in the iTunes store — although the guys do note the webcomic’s biggest weakness: its design. It’s not easy to navigate the website and find your way around, and there are too many duplicate pages or links to nowhere. What’s more, the webcomic doesn’t seem to have been updated since 2011 or 2013 (it’s not easy to determine each page’s publication date), and the adaptation is only up to Episode Five: The Lotus Eaters. But if you’re a fan of the classic and have patience, then Ulysses Seen can be worth the wait.

Finally, the guys wrap up with an already completed webcomic, Adam Szym’s Biome. This is a short piece that can be found at Szym’s website Good Show Sir, along with a number of his other comics. This webcomic stands out for intricacy of art and especially its design for reading. Sean points out that it employs some of Scott McCloud’s ideas behind the “infinite canvas,” and Derek feels that the reading experience is similar to what you will find with Study Group Comics. But however you approach it, this highly stylized work, with its fantastical tone and sci-fi leanings, is standout example of what webcomics are capable of.

We discuss the first 10 issues of Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. This female led spy story is set in a very realistic environment and focuses on a retired agent who must use her spy skills to solve a mystery.

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“The benefit of hindsight”

The Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics are back with another fun conversation, this time with artist I. N. J. Culbard. They talk with him about his latest book, The King in Yellow (SelfMadeHero), a graphic adaptation of Robert W. Chambers’s macabre collection of stories originally published in 1895. To be more specific, Culbard actually takes the first four stories from Chambers’s original work, the ones that reference the notorious fictional play referenced in the title — “The Repairer of Reputations,” “The Mask,” “In the Court of the Dragon,” and “The Yellow Sign” — and adapts those. As Ian reveals, he attempts to stay true to the spirit of the original, while at the same time making creative changes that will more fully bring out the stories’ tone and present them in more of a thematic whole. In fact, Derek suggests that Ian has actually made The King in Yellow better by giving it more structural cohesion, using the four stories in such a way that the book becomes short-story cycle, or more appropriate to the medium, a graphic cycle. The guys spend a lot of time discussing the new book, the artist’s storytelling choices, and especially Culbard’s larger philosophy on adaptation and comics. However, they also explore a variety of Ian’s earlier works, including his ongoing adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft narratives (of which we can expect more in the near future), his many collaborations with both Ian Edgington and Dan Abnett, and his solo work from last year, Celeste. If you aren’t previously familiar with the work of I. N. J. Culbard, then this is your chance to get introduced to one of the best adapters, and best artists, working in comics today.

Brian John Mitchell talks about his Kickstarter project to fund the making of his matchbook-sized comics. Two of these books involved a collaboration with Dave Sim!

“Rook Bartly” (US Air Force active duty member Jason) tells us about “Okashi na Futari”, the Japanese novel series whose author has hired him to draw a manga version of the story.

Then, Kumar returns to tell us about a couple of his recent manga translation projects, “Stupid Guy Goes to India” (which landed him an interview in the March 25 Mumbai Sunday Mid-Day, pg 38-39) and Osamu Tezuka’s “Adolf”.

All this, plus the announcement of the winning “what do you like about Deconstructing Comics” entry!

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to experience Star Wars AS YOU HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED IT BEFORE! In the TWO TRUE FREAKS THEATRE OF THE MIND! Using state of the art technology, The Freaks bring you the first two chapters of the novelization of STAR WARS in full FREAK-O-PHONIC STEREO! Marvel at the EPIC SPACE BATTLES! Quiver and SOIL YOURSELF IN FEAR at the auditory presence of the EVIL LORD OF THE SITH! Chuckle at the bumbling antics of ARTOO DEETOO AND C3PO! Wince at the awkward, whiny pubescence of young LUKE SKYWALKER! STRAP ON YOUR HEADPHONES! Yes, we PROMISE things will be back to normal next month!

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